1945 – A BREAK WITH THE PAST A History of Central European Countries at the End of World War Two 1945 – PRELOM S PRETEKLOSTJO Zgodovina srednjeevropskih držav ob koncu druge svetovne vojne Edited by ZDENKO ČEPIČ Book Editor Zdenko Čepič Editorial board Zdenko Čepič, Slavomir Michalek, Christian Promitzer, Zdenko Radelić, Jerca Vodušek Starič Published by Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino/ Institute for Contemporary History, Ljubljana, Republika Slovenija/Republic of Slovenia Represented by Jerca Vodušek Starič Layout and typesetting Franc Čuden, Medit d.o.o. Printed by Grafika-M s.p. Print run 400 CIP – Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 94(4-191.2)"1945"(082) NINETEEN hundred and forty-five 1945 - a break with the past : a history of central European countries at the end of World War II = 1945 - prelom s preteklostjo: zgodovina srednjeevropskih držav ob koncu druge svetovne vojne / edited by Zdenko Čepič. - Ljubljana : Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino = Institute for Contemporary History, 2008 ISBN 978-961-6386-14-2 1. Vzp. stv. nasl. 2. Čepič, Zdenko 239512832 1945 – A Break with the Past / 1945 – Prelom s preteklostjo CONTENTS Zdenko Čepič, The War is Over. What Now? A Reflection on the End of World War Two ..................................................... 5 Dušan Nećak, From Monopolar to Bipolar World. Key Issues of the Classic Cold War ................................................................. 23 Slavomír Michálek, Czechoslovak Foreign Policy after World War Two. New Winds or Mere Dreams? ................................................................ 41 Ignác Romsics, American Wartime Plans for a New Hungary and the Paris Peace Conference, 1941–1947 ................................................... 51 Nevenka Troha, The Class and the Nationality. The Example of Trieste 1945 ................................................................................................. 63 Davide Artico, Population Transfers to and from Lower Silesia after World War Two ....................................................................................... 75 Jakub Tyszkiewicz, Communist Propaganda in the German Provinces Ceded to Poland (1945–1989) ......................................................... 91 Christian Promitzer, How Not to Constitute a Minority. The Slovenians in Austrian Styria at the End of World War Two ................ 101 Vida Deželak Barič, Preparations of the Communist Party of Slovenia for the Takeover of Power 1944–1945 ....................................... 123 Jerca Vodušek Starič, A Model for "People's Democracy". Some Backgrounds of the Tito–Šubašić Provisional Yugoslav Government ................................................................ 141 Zdenko Radelić, Communist Authority and Opposition in Croatia after 1945 ...................................................................................... 159 Aleš Gabrič, Oposition in Slovenia in 1945 .................................................. 181 Božo Repe, Changes in Life Style and Social and National Structures in Slovenia after World War Two ................................................. 195 Dušan Segeš, The Slovak Question and its International Context during World War Two .................................................................................. 213 3 1945 – A Break with the Past / 1945 – Prelom s preteklostjo Mario Jareb, Illusions of a 'Final Victory' and the 'Fate of Small European Nations' – Media and Propaganda of the Independent State of Croatia in 1945 ................................................................................. 227 Damijan Guštin, Satisfaction of the Victors and Confirmation of the Defeated. Persecuting War Criminals in Slovenia 1945 ...................... 239 Mitja Ferenc, Absent from Public Memory. Hidden Grave Sites in Slovenia 60 Years After the End of World War Two ................................ 263 Michael Wedekind, German Scholarly Elites and the Social-Ethnic Reorganization of Occupied Slovenia by the Third Reich ............................ 275 Michal Šimůnek, "German Science Committed an Offence". German Life Sciences and Czech Post-war Reflections, 1945–1946 ............ 293 List of Authors ............................................................................................... 311 4 Zdenko Čepič The War is Over. What Now? UDK 94(100)"1939/1945":930 Zdenko Čepič* The War is Over. What Now? A Reflection on the End of World War Two The end of the war. The fighting is over, it is peacetime. The weapons fell silent, but the peace that came all over the world was actually a time of great unrest – a time of excitement, desire to act, to eradicate the consequences of the war, physical as well as spiritual, as soon as possible. Everyone yearned for life to get back to what was normal for peacetime as quickly as it could. The unrest, brought about by the end of the war, was a consequence of overall excitement, since many questions, conflicts and changes were caused by the war, and they all needed solving. It looked like the world as it existed until then and the rela- tions between countries and allies of that time would change, and so would also individual countries themselves. Governments, political systems and borders would be altered. The end of the war undoubtedly drove a wedge between the old and the new. It brought about a transformation of attitudes and realities. However, the changes took various forms, occurred in different areas and were not equally intense. They varied from country to country. In Slovenia, World War Two officially ended on the same day as in the rest of Europe – on 9 May 1945. In the morning of that day, partisan units marched into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Even the day before combat took place in the outskirts of the city, since by defending Ljubljana the Germans and the members of the Slovenian Home Guard wanted to ensure the possibility of re- treating to Austria in the north. To the Western allies! Partisans came to Ljub- ljana as messengers of a new era. The people, having secretly prepared for the reception for several days, making national flags with a red star in the middle, awaited them eagerly. With sincere enthusiasm! On that morning Jutro, the daily newspaper of the Slovenian liberal political camp, which kept opposing the resistance against the occupiers throughout the war because of its political opposition to the leadership of the resistance, was published for the last time. This was one of the indicators that the old was giving way to the new. However, despite the fact that the arrival of the partisans to Ljubljana signified the end of the old political world, represented by this newspaper, the Jutro newspaper hailed their arrival with the following words: "We have weathered a terrible storm, and Ljubljana, desecrated by countless villains, also suffered terribly; * PhD, Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino, Kongresni trg 1, SI–1000 Ljubljana, e-mail: [email protected] 5 1945 – A Break with the Past / 1945 – Prelom s preteklostjo but nevertheless it is overjoyed, enchanting and reborn, to proudly greet the Slovenian heroes and brothers who brought us freedom. (...) Ljubljana, the love of heaven and happiness... This is your day, the day of everyone alive. Rejoice, sing, and salute the army, government and homeland. And, above all – free- dom." These words for the liberators of Ljubljana emphasize the concepts, which to a great extent define the dividing line between the old and the new. In the Slovenian example this especially holds for the army, which liberated the coun- try, for the Slovenian partisan army and the government. Namely, the govern- ment was the expression of the new concept of homeland. The characteristics of the state became more prominent, and the People's Government of Slovenia (which arrived to Ljubljana the next day) was one of the clearest indicators of this new quality. It was a symbolic expression of the new situation in Slovenia. Among other elated words, published in the newspaper which served as a means of propaganda for the invaders until the very end of the war, freedom was men- tioned frequently. And righteously so. As the war ended, freedom only just started for the Slovenian nation. National freedom – the freedom of a nation. In April 1941 this nation was occupied by three invading armies, who divided its territory and condemned it to disappearance. And freedom – the freedom of the nation – obviously also meant a lot to those who politically and ideologically opposed the movement which fought for this freedom. On the day when partisans marched into Ljubljana, World War Two ended in Europe. It was a war without a second name, like World War I, which is also referred to as the Great War. However, by almost all standards, World War Two was the largest military conflict in history. It was a war fought throughout the world – approximately 96% of the population at the time participated in it, 61 countries were involved, and military operations took place in more than a fifth of Earth's surface. But it was also a completely European war. It broke out in Europe and spread around the globe. 9 May – the day when the capitulation of Germany, the country chiefly responsible for the war, entered into force, is usu- ally thought of as the day when World War Two ended. In the Far East military operations continued until the capitulation of Japan on 2 September 1945. Japan only agreed to capitulate after nuclear bombs were dropped on two of its cities. In Europe, despite